Links To More Avenues Of My Mindful Creations

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

The challenge this week on the Paper Crafts message board is being hosted by Tasia and she challenged us to make a card that is any shape but square or rectangle. This was perfect because I have been wanting to make a heart shape card using my Spellbinders Nestabilities.
Inside view
Supplies Used:
Image: Stampabilities House Mouse "Tails of True Love"
Ink: Memento
Cardstock: Bazzill
Tools Used: Spellbinders Nestabilities and BossKut Flourish die
Embellishments: Pearls by Hero Arts, flowers by Prima and brads from my stash
Techniques: Image colored with Prismacolor color pencils and blended with Gamsol

Thursday, December 3, 2009

I found this tutorial for these adorable paper bag purses and just had to try making one. The instructions were super simple to follow and I put this together in about 20 minutes. Super fast and easy! I think these would be adorable to give some Christmas cookies or candies to friends and co workers. They would also be perfect in other themes such as birthdays. Couldn't you just see one of these done up very girly girl with lots of bling? Oh I could see doing a beaded handle and adding some flowers.......I think I will be making lots of these in the future! You can find the tutorial for making these HERE.
Inside the purse.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

It's that time of year again when I start frantically trying to get all my Christmas cards made. You would think I would work on them all year and not be rushing at last minute....but no. One of these years maybe I will learn. I'm trying to make cards that are A2 size and with not too many lumpy embellishments so that it doesn't cost me a fortune in postage. I'm having a hard time though keeping my cards simple. I'm so into ribbon, flowers, bling and all those fun things that make it harder to mail your card. I don't think I did too bad with this one though. I was also able to make it work for three challenges, as well as I was able to use my scraps from the last card I made. Yeah!

The challenges I'm able to enter this card for are:2 Red Bananas - A Christmas cardCupcake Craft Challenges - Use the colors red and greenThe Pink Elephant Challenge - Use your favorite coloring medium which in my case is to use my Prismacolor colored pencils. I love coloring with them!
I would highly recommend stopping by all three of these challenge blogs to check them out for some awesome inspiration.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Whew.....I'm finally back! Been awhile since I last posted. I've been sick, had oral surgery....just has not been my month for card making. Hoping that is changing now but with the holidays fast approaching I am sure that will also keep me busy. I'm joining the girls "down under" for the first time at Magnolia Down Under for their challenge #27 which is for a Christmas card or decoration. If you haven't checked out their challenge blog and you love Magnolia / Tilda, then you need to check them out for fun challenges and lots of inspiration.

I would also like to give credit for the layout of my card to Sketch Saturday. This is from their sketch last week and I was unable to complete a card in time for the challenge deadline but I still wanted to use the sketch. You can find the sketch HERE and see what others also did with it.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I haven't had too much time lately for challenges. I've been missing out on some really good ones too! I knew though when I saw the current sketch challenge for Just Magnolia that I had to make time for this one even if it meant giving up sleep. I took one look at the sketch and I immediately thought of Gloria the Hippo and usually when an idea pops that fast into my head I need to go with it. It also meant that I could continue on with my personal goal of using stamps I haven't inked up yet. Can you believe I hadn't used Gloria yet???? She is just too cute!
As the card developed it went from what I had planned to be a birthday theme to a Valentines Day card. I know....everyone else is busy making Halloween, Fall and Christmas cards and here I'm making a Valentines Day card! It just seem to go together that way. I'll be one card ahead when Valentines Day comes around. Below is the sketch for the challenge.
I also chose to do a simple design on the inside with my remaining scraps.
Hope your having a great week and thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to check out the awesome creations over at Just Magnolia.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Keeping up with my persona;l goal of using stamps that I bought but never used yet, I chose to use Magnolia's Loves Me Tilda image for this week's fabulous sketch challenge over at A Spoon Full Of Sugar. I masked her on to another image, the tree stump which is by Whiff Of Joy. I grabbed my pencils to color her....blending a bit with Gamsol.....and I liked my finished results. Hope you do too. Thanks for stopping by and hope your having a pleasant week.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

I have never really been into Halloween much throughout my life. I usually don't make and send Halloween cards but who could resist this adorable mouse image? So I bought some fun Halloween papers and decided to try some of the challenges currently going for this type of card. I am submitting this for 5 challenges:2 Red Bananas - Halloween The Pink Elephant - Black, Orange, Purple and White color challengeA Spoon Full Of Sugar - HalloweenSimon Says - HalloweenMojo Monday - A sketch

Since I really don't do Halloween I didn't have much to work with in my stash of supplies and stamps. I think I could have used a dangling spider in the upper left corner. I bought a couple other Halloween images to work with so I may have to go find me a spider stamp.......I think one would have looked great on this card!

The sketch for this week at Mojo Monday is also for their monthly contest sketch. I am not sure if you are allowed to combine challenges or not on contest week but I wanted to at least give them credit and thank them for a great sketch! You can find it below.
Supplies:
Image: House Mouse by Stampabilities " Spooktacular Flower"
Sentiment: Sizzix Sizzlets dies
Ink: Memories
Cardstock: Base is Georgia Pacific and rest is Bazzill
Printed paper: Bo Bunny
Spellbinders Nestabilities circle dies
Brads from my stash
Techniques: Image colored with Prismacolor Color Pencils
Completed Card Size: 5 1/2" square

I absolutely fell in love with this sketch but when I went to make my card I found it to be a bit challenging. I'm happy with my end results though and so glad I chose to try it. For the stitching challenges I chose to use real stitches by stitching some of the pieces with a straight stitch with my sewing machine. I then distressed my card by tearing some of the edges and then using Ranger Inks to add the extra touch of making my creation look like it had aged. Roses On Paper also has certain stamp lines that they require you to use for their challenges. One they allow is the Magnolia stamps. It is pretty obvious from my blog that I love the Magnolia stamps, especially Tilda but I would have to say the Jingle Jangle collection is my favorite of theirs. I love Alf and Alva the elves. I wish they would make some more images of them. Here is the sketch I used from A Spoon Full of Sugar:

Monday, September 21, 2009

I set some goals for myself at the beginning of September that I hope to accomplish by the end of the year. While most are not really fun ones....like cleaning out closets and other boring but necessary things, one goal I set for myself is actually fun. That goal is to use all the stamps that I bought during my buying spree these past few months that I haven't used yet. This image I used for this card is the first time I have used it and it was perfect for two challenges that I am submitting it for. The first is Basic Grey's embossing challenge. Besides embossing of some kind on your creation you are required to use something from the Basic Grey line. My yellow, orange and orange printed papers are from the Basic Grey Lime Rickey collection. The second challenge is for The Pink Elephant Challenge blog which is a sketch this week. I have posted the sketch below.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

I'm submitting this card for two challenges. The first is a color challenge on the Roses On Paper Challenge Blog. You are to use the colors lavender, soft blue and cream. Your creation must also include either a Magnolia, Greeting Farm, Alota, Belles and Whistles or Bildmalarnas image. The Bildmalarnas line of stamps is something new that Roses On Paper store is now carrying. Normally I do not do well with color challenges and choose to run far away from them. However this color challenge was exactly the colors I pictured this image to be colored in. I apologize for the bad picture. My coloring even looks blotchy but trust me in person it doesn't. The printed paper has the 3 required colors for the challenge. Unfortunately the cream is looking a bit more off white instead of cream.

The second challenge is for Sketch Saturday. I fell in love with this sketch the second I saw it and knew I had to use it. You can see the sketch below.
Supplies Used:
Image: Bildmalarnas
Sentiment: Hero Arts
Ink: Memories
Cardstock: Cream is Wausau and the lavender and blue were purchased at Hobby Lobby
Printed Paper: Penny Lane
Tools: Martha Stewart border punch
Embellishments: Prima flowers, pearls and brad from "my stash"
Technique: Image colored with Prismacolor color pencils and parts blended with Gamsol.
Completed card size: 5 1/2" square

Both Roses On Paper and Sketch Saturday are offering some wonderful prizes for participating in their challenges. Winner is chosen by random. Check it out and check out the DT's cards while your there!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Over at the Scrap and Paper / Paper Crafts Message Board Forum, where I like to hang out and chat with my crafting friends, we hold weekly challenges to help keep our mojo going. This week it is Tasia's turn to host the challenge. Her challenge is:
To make a card, scrapbook LO, ATC, etc. with the following:
#1 Black and White and one color of your choosing
#2 Sentiment
#3 At least one non-patterned paper

I thought I would challenge myself a bit more and make the sentiment requirement the main focus of my card. Usually I'm picking out an image and grabbing my Prismacolor color pencils to color the image but not this time. As easy as this card was to make, it was that hard for me not to color an image! I love to color. For the exception of the card base, all paper and cardstock is from my scrap drawer. That was an added extra bonus for me. I have tons of scraps and I should be trying to use them more often. Tools I used were the Nestabilities, Cuttlebug flower die and Martha Stewart butterfly punch. I added just a tad of pink with the plaid ribbon, the butterfly and flower centers for my splash of color. Fast, simple and easy but I sure had fun making this card. In fact it has inspired me to pull out some more of my quotes rubber stamps and make some more cards. Wouldn't a set of quote note cards make a nice gift?

Thursday, September 3, 2009

The Just Magnolia challenge called for ribbons and bows. I almost always grab some ribbon for my projects so the challenge seemed easy enough. I chose to use Magnolia's cross stitch Tilda which I colored with my Prismacolor colored pencils and blended with Gamsol. The cardstock is a Georgia Pacific base and the blue is Bazzill. The stripe paper is from my stash and sorry I do not know who makes it. I used my Nestabilities and a Martha Stewart scallop border punch for my tools. Ribbon is by Offray. The sentiment is computer generated. I found this really cute cross stitch font on dafont.com that I thought was perfect to use for this card.
I had a little bit of scraps left so instead of putting them into my scrap drawer I decided to use them on the inside. I used the same cross stitch font for the inside sentiment as the front. I hope you can see it....clicking on the picture to make it bigger might help if you can't. Completed card size is a 5 1/2" square.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

This week the challenge at Scrap and Paper Corner, on the Paper Crafts forum, is hosted by Kari / Heppster. Kari asked that we use an image of an animal that would be found on a farm, a sentiment and an embellishment. This was perfect for me as I have been looking for a reason to ink up this image and use it. Isn't it adorable? It's called Piggy Tubby Time and is by Peachy Keen stamps. After I colored my image with Prismacolor Colored Pencils I started thinking about papers and sketch layouts. I wondered if I could make the card more "girly" with the image instead of country / farm like. Well......of course I can! LOL! Floral print paper is by Bo Bunny, cardstock is by Bazzill and the card base is by Wausau. For tools I used my Nestabilities, Martha Stewart butterfly punch and SU photo corner punch. Add some black rhinestones by Mark Richards and a sentiment by Impression Obsession and I have my girly piggie card. I also added some crystal Stickles to the bubbles. A girly card needs sparkle...right? The completed card size is a 5 1/2" square.
Hope you have been having a great week....tomorrow is Friday...yeah! Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Well the last bird has left the nest.....at least for the next four years. My son is now at college and my husband and I find ourselves back to where we started....just the two of us and our dog! I need to keep my mind off of all the kids being grown up and gone and what better way to do it and start out the week than with a challenge. This week over at Roses On Paper the challenge is to use punches and any sketch of your choice. Of course you must also use a Magnolia, Rachelle Anne Miller, Sarah Kay or The Greeting Farm image of your choice as well on your creation. I chose to use Tilda holding a sunflower. Summer will be ending soon here in the USA and it won't be long before the wind becomes chilly and we are all thinking about making our Christmas cards. I also used a sketch that was the challenge sketch a week ago on Friday Sketchers. Things were much too hectic getting my son off to school so I was unable to do the challenge but I loved the sketch and was happy to be able to use it for this challenge. You can find the sketch HERE.

Also I wanted to try and give Tilda blonde hair that was darker and not the yellow blonde. I was trying for more of a darker blonde....what we call here as "dirty dish water " blonde. Not sure how that saying came about but it has been around for years. I'm pleased with the end results.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

I managed to find a bit of time today to put together a card for two challenges. It has just been a crazy week! This is Tilda wearing her yule cap in the Mojo Monday Sketch 99. Be sure to check Mojo Monday next week for the 100th sketch! Our Creative Corner is doing Christmas in August this week for their challenge. You will want to be sure to check their challenge for some inspiration for making your Christmas cards this year. I also took a few extra minutes to do a simple design inside the card which is pictured below as well as the Mojo Monday sketch.
Supplies Used:
Image: Magnolia / Tilda With Yule Cap (thank you Barbara for the image!)
Cardstock: Wausau and Bazzill
Printed Paper: DCWV and Basic Grey
Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities
Embellishments: Flower by Prima, Ribbon by Offray
Techniques: Image colored with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and blended with Gamsol. Cut out and pop dotted.
Completed card size: 5 1/2" square

Friday, August 7, 2009

I'm currently in a swap called Merry Go Round. There are 6 players and we were all to send in a House Mouse, Happy Hopper or Gruffie image (6) to the host. The host then sends one of every one's image to all the players to be made into a card. Once you have finished all your cards you send them back to he host who will then return your original image back to you that is now made into cards by 5 creative people. One of the images that was sent in was this Gruffie eating pizza. I fussed and stewed over this image not knowing what to do with it. It was looking masculine to me and as you can tell by my blog.......I'm not very good at making masculine cards. I finally came up with this and I am actually quite pleased after all my fussing and stewing over this image. The layout for the card was inspired by a recent sketch on the House Mouse & Friends challenge blog which you can find here.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

This is a crazy busy month for me with my son getting ready to leave for college. Not too much time right now for making cards. I've been making this card since last Friday..... a few minutes here and a few minutes there.... but fortunately with how long it took, two other challenges came online that fit perfectly for my card.

Pile It On is a challenge blog that every week they will give you one requirement from them and then you are also to combine one or more other challenges with your creation. For those who like to combine challenges this is perfect. This week you are to use 3 or more flowers as well as combine their challenge with one or more other challenges. I have four flowers and two other challenges so I think I have it covered.

My second challenge is A Spoon Full Of Sugar which this week is called "Floral Fantasy". You are to use flowers on your creation. Got that covered!

The third challenge is a sketch from Friday Sketchers. I love this sketch as I usually do every Friday when a new one is posted. I have posted a picture of the sketch below.
I chose to use Tilda with a bee for my image which I colored with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and blended with Gamsol. This is my first time to give Tilda red hair. What do you think? I'm kind of liking her with red hair myself.
Supplies Used:
Image: Magnolia / Tilda With Bee
Printed Paper: HOTP / Paper Pizazz
Cardstock: Bazzill
Ink: Memories
Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Floral and Swiss Dot embossing folder, Martha Stewart branch punch
Embellishments: Flowers by Prima, Offray Satin Ribbon, brads from my stash
Techniques: Image colored with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and blended with Gamsol. Image is cut out and pop dotted for added dimension. Wire used to create antennae for bee.
Completed Card Size: 5 1/2" square

Hope everyone has been having a great summer.....thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

I have been trying all week to find time to do these two challenges so I'm coming in at the last minute or I may even be late but I wanted to try both of these challenges. At House Mouse and Friends you were to color your image but everything else had to be in white. Your card stock, papers, embellishments etc....all white on white. I chose to use a Happy Hopper image called "Relaxing Bubbles" with minimal coloring which I did with Prismacolor colored pencils and blended with Gamsol. I added some crystal Stickles to the bubbles for added pizazz. I used different shades of white card stock of which I ran the 3 panels through the bubbles Cuttlebug embossing folder. Flowers are by Prima Flowers with a pearl center. Leaf punch is by Martha Stewart and satin ribbon is by Offray. I cut my circles using my Spellbinders nesatbilities.

I thought the sketch over at Mojo Monday was the perfect sketch to showcase my white on white card. This was my first experience at making a white on white card and I think I would like to try it again when I have a bit more time to really get into it. I can see where the white on white could give some really dramatic results when using different shades of white and texture.Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have had a fun weekend creating!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Button, button.....whose got the button? This week over at Just Magnolia the challenge is to add buttons to your creation. I love using buttons for the center of flowers so this was an easy challenge to do. I chose to use Tilda with her cherry boots for my required Magnolia image for the challenge. I colored her using Prismacolor colored pencils and blended with Gamsol. The card base is Wausau and the color card stock is by Bazzill. Printed paper and the paper used for the butterfly is from the "Lemonade" collection by Basic Grey. Spellbinders Nestabilities were used for cutting the circles. The cream color circle is embossed with Cuttlebug's swiss dot embossing folder. Flowers were punched using Paper Shapers Retro Flower punch. I used Martha Stewart's butterfly punch for the butterfly. Pearls are by Hero Arts. ribbon by Offray and buttons by Lasting Impressions.

I am amazed at the talent I see each week over at the Just Magnolia challenge blog. Check it out....you won't be disappointed! Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

The weekly challenge this week on the Ck / Paper Crafts MB is being hosted by Barbara / lillyscrapper. Her challenge is a recipe calling for you to use:
* a critter
*1 , 3 or 5 flowers
* ribbon
* a punch
My critters are from the House Mouse collection by Stampabilities called "Mouse Bounce". I have colored them with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and blended with Gamsol. Flower punch is by Paper Shapers. I also used a border scallop punch by Martha Stewart. Ribbon and button are from my stash. Card base is Georgia Pacific. Colored card stock is Bazzill and printed papers are from the June Bug collection by Basic Grey. Barbara is offering an awesome prize this week for the winner chosen by random .....Prismacolor Color Pencils and a House Mouse stamp!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Seasons is the current challenge over at House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge Blog. This little guy has found a great way at "Keeping Cool" with the beach, some lemonade and an ice cube! Card stock is by Bazzill and printed paper is from the Lime Rickey collection by Basic Grey. I usually choose to color my images with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and then blend with Gamsol but this time I didn't use Gamsol. All color was put down with several layers and blended without the use of Gamsol. Takes a bit longer this way but I found it to work better for coloring the glass and ice cube not to use Gamsol. Popped a yellow circle to represent a lemon wedge on the edge of the image and it said Summer to me!

I really enjoy the House Mouse challenge blog and I can always find a lot of inspiration there. I hope you take some time to check it out. Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

I have a twofer......two of my favorite challenges.....Just Magnolia and Sketch Saturday. I'm getting this in just at the last minute for the Just Magnolia challenge which is to include a charm on your creation as well as a Magnolia image. I chose to use Alva the elf holding a flower. She is one of my favorite images from the Magnolia line. I love the sketch this week over at Sketch Saturday, which you can find below. I thought it was perfect for my Alva card.

The card base is a cream color by Wausau. The solid distressed and printed papers are by Basic Grey from their new line called "Lemonade". I just love this paper. I chose to do some additional distressing with inking the edges of some of the papers with Tim Holtz's Distress Inks and also using a distress tool by Heidi Swapp. There are some fabulous creations to check out over at Just Magnolia and Sketch Saturday.....I hope you will take some time to check them out.
Supplies Used:
Image: Alva the elf by Magnolia
Sentiment: Impression Obession
Cardstock: Wausau
Printed Papers: Lemonade by Basic Grey
Ink: Memories, Ranger Distress Ink "Old Paper" and " Mustard Yellow"
Tools used: Spellbinders Nestabilities, Martha Stewart heart scalloped border punch, Martha Stewart leaf punch, Heidi Swapp distressing tool
Prima flowers, pearls, brads and butterfly charm from "my stash"
Techniques: Image colored with Prismacolor colored pencils and blended with Gamsol
Completed card size: 5 1/2" square

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Over on the Creating Keepsakes / Paper Crafts message board, weekly challenges are hosted by the board participants to encourage our "mojo" not to go into hiding. This past week the challenge was hosted by Judy / dgbearsmom. The challenge was to use a new image that you have never worked with before as well as to choose one other item from a list of options she gave you to choose from. One of the options was to combine the challenge with another challenge which is what I chose to do, combining with the House Mouse weekly challenge. I chose to use a Happy Hopper image called Puddle Fun. The challenge this past week over at House Mouse and Friends Monday challenge blog was to use paper tole on your creation. There is more than one form or levels of paper tole. For this challenge a tutorial was provided to show how to do a simple paper tole on your creation. You can see the tutorial here. Basically though the art of paper tole is to create a dimensional or 3D effect. I chose to do this with the umbrella in the image.